Rose and Clive land in yet another parallel London. It's raining. Wirdly, the centre of London is devoid of any traffic - the tubes are still going, but there's no cars, no buses. They go with the usual plan - split up, find their 'families', look for any sign of divergences, aliens, or their number one target - the Doctor.
Clive finds his Dad, but he doesn't have any knowledge of Clive's mum. Clive, it seems, doesn't exist here. Rose, meanwhile, shares a wrap of chips with a local boy called Rob. With a little prodding, he reveals that the rain is a result of rampant climate change, and government measures across the globe have banned most non-renewable energies, and any technology research past the mid-40's, for fear of doing more damage to the Earth. To Rose, though, it doesn't add up. Torrential, tropical rain in London shouldn't be happening, especially with all the measures put in place. Rob agrees, and brings her home to meet his Dad, a tech genius and inventor, trying to put togther whatever tech he can. His Dad, Pete Tyler. Which makes Rob Tyler, his son, and Mickey Smith's boyfriend... Rose.
Clive, sticking to the mission, continues the search for the Doctor by heading to a UFO group. No-one's heard of any Doctors, or blue boxes, least of all Caroline, who meant to be going to the book club. Nonetheless, she finds all this extraterrstrial chat intriguing, and her and Clive hit it off, heading to the library together to do more reasearch. It uncovers nothing (and devolves into something very similar to a date), but the pair do find out that, past about 1980, any information about space or astronomy dries up. Someone is wanting to hide the stars.
Rose and Rod sneak into parliament, and with the help of a bug built by Pete, find out that the rain isn't due to global warming, but alien interference. The rain drains the soil of any nutrients, slowly rendering it infertile, and within 50 years, there'll be no crops left. Within 70, humanity will be extinct. Rose confronts her, and while the Prime Minister Margot Kinnear tries to hold her hostage, she reveals Rod has the recording, and shooting her will just encourage him to release it. Which is what they'll do anyway, unless the PM tells the country herself. Defeated, she lets Rose go.
Clive and Caroline attend the protest outside parliament (it's raining), but when Caroline asks him back to hers for pizza, Clive reveals he can't stay. He's from a parallel Earth, and he asks Caroline to come with him. When they put the question to Rose and Pete, they both deny him - Pete sympathises, but he's unwilling to risk the dimensions collapsing. They understand, and Caroline wishes Clive a fond farewell. Not having found the Doctor, and having done all they can, the pair return home. Clive's hurt, but he's glad he got to experience the happiest day of his life.
On the Flood world (it's raining), riots are breaking out as Margot Kinnear reveals the truth to the world. Pete wonders if they did the right thing, whether it was better for people to live in ignorance, but Rob reassures him. With the truth known, people can and will work even harder on finding a solution. Together. And that's not the only news. Their network has word from undercover agent Donna Noble, who has gotten access to a secret sattellite network. She can send messages, and perhaps they can seek help amongst the stars. Perhaps humanity will not stand alone.
'The Flood' contains examples of:
-
Acting for Two: Shaun Dingwall once again plays two versions of Pete: Control!Pete, and Flood!Pete. - Alternate Universe
- The Bus Came Back: Elli Garnett reprises her role as Caroline Finch (or rather, her alternate universe double) from Rose.
- The End of the World as We Know It: This time, due to the alien rain, the soil is slowly being made infertile. Humanity has 50 harvests left, and will be extinct in 70 years.
- Enforced Technology Levels: Due to the Steinberg Agreement (signed by all countries except New Argentina and East Korea), Earth's technlogy is limited to roughly World War 2 level. Pete Tyler has managed to bodge together stuff of a slightly higher level, and Rose's mobile phone seems incredible to anyone she shows.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Flood!Pete.
- Gender-Bent Alternate Universe: Downplayed. Rose's alternate counterpart here is Rob Tyler.
- The Ghost:
- The Agency's undercover agent is mentioned a few times as having been based both in Westminster, and the Satellite Control. It's a parallel Donna Noble.
- The alien race destroying the Earth. They're never shown, their name is never mentioned, we don't even know why they're doing it. And without the Doctor to stop them, perhaps no-one ever will.
- In Spite of a Nail: Harriet Jones is still an MP (Yes, Rose knows who she is). Here, she's Leader of the Opposition.
- Mythology Gag: Flood!Mickey Smith is in a gay relationship, just as his last parallel counterpart (Ricky Smith) was intended to be, before that was reduced from text to subtext.
